


Piece Me Back Together

by tasty0kitsune0brains



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Badass Mabel Pines, Good Sister Mabel Pines, Human Bill Cipher, Insecure Dipper Pines, M/M, Mabel Pines' Sweaters, Post-Weirdmageddon, Protective Mabel Pines, Sad Dipper Pines, Scared Dipper Pines, Spoilers, Supportive Mabel Pines, Swearing, Teenage Dipper Pines, Teenage Mabel Pines, The Power Of Mabel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-03-26 23:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13868352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tasty0kitsune0brains/pseuds/tasty0kitsune0brains
Summary: After Weirdmageddon, they thought everything was over and Bill was gone for good, but they were wrong. Every time Bill has possessed a being, he left behind traces of himself. Immediately upon his erasure in Stan's mind, all these traces came together and brought him back, but human and much weaker than before. With no way to get his demon form back, Bill had to adjust to being human and having very limited powers for the time being. The only positive aspect was that being human let him leave Gravity Falls, and he knew exactly where he wanted to be - terrorizing the Pines twins in California. Not everything goes as Bill planned, however, and he may end up getting more than he bargained for.





	1. I

**Bill's POV**

The last thing I can remember before the darkness took over is the fist that hit me right before I was erased from Stanley's mind. I still can't believe I was foolish enough to let myself get tricked into thinking that Stanley was his brother. I was too prideful, and I will be sure to never make that mistake in the future. I'm going to have to deal with the consequences of this, but at least I'm not dead. That stupid plan to kill me while erasing Stanley's mind won't matter soon. They erased his mind for nothing, because I still have a trick up my sleeve to prevent my death.

Every time I possess someone, there's a small trace of me that gets left behind after I leave. It's so small, I didn't even realize it happened for quite some time, because my demonic energy would replace it very quickly after my departure from a person's mind. After a while, I figured out a way to make sure that any part of me left in anyone's mind would come together to bring me back.

The one thing about this I don't know that bothers me the most is what form I will take on after I get reassembled. There's no way for me to get my triangle form back, and there's also no way for me to find out what the new form is at all. It really depends on how many small parts of me still exist.

I have possessed many people in the long time I've been a demon, but the traces left behind will decay at some point. Every mind is different, and the rate of decay is different for each one. Death is also a factor, because once the person dies, the rate of decay will slow significantly. The mind is what decays the traces, and it decays them by absorbing their energy. Most of the people in mental institutions are insane due to the traces left behind by a demon, because those minds completely decayed the traces before they died. Of course, the elderly that go insane are just dismissed as getting old and losing their grip on reality as a side effect.

Suddenly, I see a light getting closer and closer. The form must be pieced together already. Since I still technically have the soul of a demon, I will retain a certain portion of my powers no matter what form I'm stuck with, so I can't complain too much. Hopefully, I'll find a way to get my demon form back eventually, because there's no way there are enough pieces of me to get that form.

With a loud gasp, I jerk upwards into a sitting position. I'm in my new form, and I don't like it. I'm a damn human. These creatures normally need some sort of magical object to use powers, unless they're the somewhat rare case of a witch or something. At least I have some of my demonic powers still, but being a human will limit what I can do with them and how long or how much I can use them. This will not be fun, especially considering I just woke up on the edge of the woods surrounding the stupid Mystery Shack.

I attempt to stand, which feels kind of odd, even though I've walked as a human plenty of times when I was possessing one. Hell, I even  _fought_  as a human when I possessed Pine Tree, and I'm sure there were plenty others that I fought as in the past as well. I suppose having my own human body might be different from possession. 

Eventually, I manage to get to my feet, while leaning against a tree. With a sudden thought entering my head, I look down to make sure I have clothes on. Humans have laws against not wearing clothes, and I prefer to look my best either way. Thankfully, I am wearing clothes, but I'm not completely sure where they came from or how I got them. Maybe my powers did it for me and I just didn't realize it. However I got them, I must say I like them, even though they aren't what I would usually wear. Jeans, worn black army surplus boots, socks, and a white button-up shirt with a yellow sweater over it. The button-up isn't tucked into the jeans, but it surprisingly didn't bother me because I found it oddly comfortable. 

Looking around makes me realize I still have only one eye. I suppose some things you just can't ever change, even if the rest of your anatomy changes completely. I raise my hand to my face to feel where my right eye would be if I had one, and my hand comes into contact with what is most likely an eye patch. I can't see it obviously, but it feels like a pentagon. Why did it have to be my least favorite shape?

Sighing, I push away from the tree I'm leaning on and head toward town, away from the Mystery Shack. I don't know how long I've been out while waiting for my new body to assemble completely, but I know I don't want to stick around and see who's still at that rundown tourist trap. I don't even really want to go into town, but if everything is like it was before, I can't leave the city. Besides, humans need food. I can feel my insides already churning, which I think is the warning sign that I need to eat.

Once I reach the town, I look around and see everyone acting as if nothing had ever happened, as if I never tried to take over the world, starting with their town. It's actually slightly angering that it seems as though nothing I did had affected them. If I look closer, though, I can see the trauma in certain people's eyes, which gives me great satisfaction. I bet they just know that no one outside of the town will believe them, so they shove it deep down and pretend life had been normal during the time I reigned supreme. That couldn't be further from the truth, and that was how I liked it. Normal is boring and pointless, a standard made by people who want others to be exactly like them. Weird is fun, though. So is terror.

At this point, I could see people looking at me oddly, and that's when I realized I was smiling, probably really creepily. I don't want to stand out too much or raise suspicion, so I'll have to keep control over my face, even though I've never done it before because I never had this many facial features. Technically speaking, I didn't even have a face, but it depends on how you look at it.

A bell chimes as I walk into some building. I wasn't really paying much attention to where I was going, so I have no idea what this place is. Looking around, I notice a lot of books on a lot of shelves. There was a desk to my right, where a lady was stamping the inside of some books. I believe humans call this a library, but I'm not completely sure. It could just be a store that sells only books.

I walk over to the lady sitting behind the desk, and she looks up at me for a brief moment, then turns back to her task, holds up a finger, and says, "I'll be right with you, sir. I just need to finish stamping these last few books here." She does as she said before looking back up at me with a smile. "What can I help you with today, sir? Are you looking for a particular book?"

This stumps me momentarily. A book? No, I don't have time for reading. What do I need from her? It would raise suspicion if I didn't have anything to say and just walked away after waiting for her attention. I should probably ask about a good place for food or something, but I think humans have some sort of trade thing with paper that they give value. I don't have any of that, so I wouldn't get anywhere. Maybe I should get a job? That would be terrible, but I need to eat somehow.

Suddenly, an idea struck me that I can't believe I didn't think of. With a smile, I ask the woman, "Do you have any books on edible wild plants? Preferably with illustrations." I wouldn't need to work or ask other people for food if I just look for food in the forest. It's not a bad idea. Not my best, but not the worst.

The lady furrows her brow, and I can't tell whether she's thinking of a possible book or if she's suspicious about why I asked for such a book. I suppose it may sound odd, but I'm not exactly the best at being a human.

"I think we have one over this way," the lady says as she stands and walks over to a bookshelf a few rows behind the one she was sitting in front of, me trailing behind silently. She seems to really be paying full attention to the task of finding the book she thought of. "AHA!"

I jump slightly in surprise as she suddenly cries out triumphantly. Quickly recovering from my initial shock, I ask, "Did you find the book?"

With a grin, the lady turns to me and says, "I found better than the book! A whole shelf full of books on the topic!" I look at the books on the shelf as she gestures to them, noticing they're all duplicates of the same four books. Why do they have so many copies? This tiny town can't possibly need that many copies of the same book. I doubt more than half of the town can actually read, and this is a really small town. It's not even on any maps, it's so small.

As I scan the shelf for which out of the four books would be the most useful, the lady that I actually forgot was still here shouts, "BEHOLD!" Jumping nearly out of my new skin, I look at her as though she just proclaimed that she was Baroness Mildred of the unicorn kingdom Libropolis. Anything else wouldn't be weird enough to explain the look I'm giving her.

"Why do you keep shouting? I thought libraries were supposed to be quiet," I snap at her. She just grins and shoves a book to my chest before walking off and telling me to check out at the front desk. Check out? What does that mean? I guess I'll have to go to the desk and find out.

When I get to the desk, I notice it's the same excitable lady that helped me find the book. Does this place only have one worker? Maybe they should enslave the gnomes. I bet they would shout less. Come to think of it, I didn't actually look at the book she gave me yet. When I look at the cover as I approach the desk, I notice the book is actually a collection of all four books that were on the shelf. Well, what do you know? She actually helped me. This book is better than just getting one of those books.

"Here." I dump the book on the desk and wait. The lady looks up from her book, which has a promising cover depicting human suffering.  _Inferno_  is the only word I can pick up from the cover at the angle she's holding it, but it looks great.

Putting her book down, the lady asks, "Will that be all?" Without waiting for a reply, she puts the book under a red light that beeps before she pulls it away. It's only after a long, awkward pause that I realize she actually does want me to answer her question.

"Oh, um.... Actually, what book are you reading?" I ask. "It looks cool." Immediately upon hearing my question, the lady's eyes widen and brighten completely. Damn, I've caused a human's happiness. That's the opposite of what I want to do.

"I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED THAT, MY FRIEND!" she shrieks. She stands up from her seat and slams her hands on the desk so hard, I swear either her hands or that desk should have broken. "This book is by Dante Alighieri, and it's called  _The Inferno_. It's so good! So, essentially, it's about the guy's trip through hell, and you get to hear about all the pain and suffering and the story behind the people who are there, and it'ssobeautifulandohmygoodnessIlovethisbookand-"

"Okay, that's enough!" I cut her off. I don't want to waste my time listening to her rambling. "If I get a copy of that, will stop going on about it?" The lady silently nods, and I sigh. "Okay, I'll get a copy then. Now, calm down." Silently, she turns around and disappears into the bookshelves for a few moments, then comes back with a book in her hand.

The lady takes a deep breath, and says in as calm a voice as I think she can muster, "There are also two other books in that series. The whole thing is called  _The Divine Comedy_ , the second book is  _Purgatorio_ , and the third book is  _Paradiso_. I recommend you read them after this one, they're really good as well. I've read the whole  _Divine Comedy_  seven times now, and I'm on my eighth time now." As she was speaking, she scanned the book and pressed a few buttons on the computer sitting in front of her. Clearing her throat, she said a little louder, "Do you have a library card or do you need to start one?"

A library card? What's a library card? Is that what they use in libraries in place of money? "Yeah, I think I need to start one."

"Okay, then." The lady's cheeriness seems to have returned, and I hope I'm gone before she starts screaming again. As she goes through a drawer in the desk, she pulls a few things out. It looks like a small, rectangular sheet of plastic and a pen. She slides them over to me across the desk and says, "Now, you need to put your name on the card so people will know it's yours. And, I will need your name to add you to the library's database."

Panic strikes me instantly. What do I tell her my name is? She was probably here when I tried to take over, and almost everyone knew my name. Bill is a common enough name, so I can use that for the first name. It may seem suspicious, but it works. "Bill," I say. "My name is Bill."

The lady's eyes widen, and she mutters, "I haven't heard that name since Weirdma-" She cuts off before finishing her thought, but the words still hit me. She's suspicious. She's definitely suspicious. "You know what, never mind all that!"

"Um, okay...." I hesitantly drop it, erasing the worry from my priorities at the moment. I just want to get the books and leave. I put  _BILL_  on the card in very large, bold lettering, and I almost add a triangle at the end, but stop myself so I don't look any more suspicious than I already do.

The lady looks down at the card, then back up to me and says, "It's fine if you just put your first name on the card, but you need to give me your last name to put in the database." Shit. I can't exactly say my last name is "Cipher," I'm not strong enough yet to fend off an angry mob. What should I say?

"Williams," I blurt out in a moment of panic, immediately berating myself mentally. Williams, really? Bill is short for William. Now everyone's going to think my parents hated me and named me William Williams. I may not have an angry mob, but I'll have hordes of people laughing at my name, which I know can turn physical pretty fast. Some of the kids whose dreams I've haunted received nightmares from me based off of memories like that. I sure hope I'm wrong about the border now. Leaving this town would definitely be best.

"Bill Williams?" the lady questions. "Damn, your parents must have hated you more than Dipper's."

With a sigh, I just say, "I never knew my parents, actually." Grabbing my books, I don't even make sure she's checked them out to me, or however it works, before I leave, the bell chiming as the door closes behind me. Damn, that took too long.

Maybe I should go check on that border.


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long wait. I had the chapter ready and had someone read through it for proofreading and advice, and I thought I posted the chapter, but it turns out I didn't. I hope you like this chapter, and give me any constructive criticism you think I need. Emphasis on constructive. Thank you.

**Dipper's POV**

With a shout, I jolt awake, directly into an upright sitting position. Panic from my nightmare still grips my heart, and I struggle to control my breathing. This has been happening since we got back from Gravity Falls almost five years ago. Every time I fall asleep, I get a nightmare that shakes me to the core, and I wake up and stay awake until it happens again the next night. I keep pretending everything is okay, though, and I have been since the end of Weirdmageddon. I haven't told anyone how much I actually was affected by it, not even Mabel, and I don't plan to any time soon. Mabel was affected bad enough, and she doesn't need to worry about me on top of that.

Sighing, I throw my blanket to the side and stand up from my bed, heading to my bookshelf. I do this every night. First comes the nightmare, then I wake up and can't go back to sleep, so I grab a journal and write down the nightmare. It somewhat helps my brain work through it, although it doesn't help me get back to sleep. I physically can't sleep until the next night. You'd think that the lack of sleep would make me tired during the day, but it surprisingly doesn't.

Since getting back, I've filled more than twenty journals with my nightmares. The only way I can keep so many hidden from my family in plain sight is by making the cover look like books none of them would be caught dead reading. The fake covers are things like textbooks, biographies, autobiographies, and just nonfiction books in general. Pretty much anything nonfiction repels Mabel, and my parents just aren't interested in the topics I put on the covers in any way.

This nightmare was along the lines of a kind of nightmare I have often -- Bill Cipher coming back. As always, the dream started out with the worst memories of him that fateful summer, the ones that negatively affected me the most. The memories normally then change into Bill regaining his physical form, which is always the statue-like figure of him (the one that was left when he entered Grunkle Stan's mind) gradually regaining full color, spreading from the center to the edges. Once all the color returned to the figure, Bill would suddenly become alive again, and my vision would then flicker to darkness before slowly flickering back to a scene of Bill inflicting various terrors upon Piedmont, different each time.

The nightmares were fairly similar every time I had them, but this time there was a very odd change. Instead of Bill coming back through the figure this time, he was put together like a puzzle, with pieces very slowly coming together to form a human. He had never been human before in any of my many nightmares, and he was never put together like a living jigsaw puzzle. Another strange thing was the fact that it felt like I was watching a time lapse as he was being put together, like it originally took much, much longer than it did when I watched it happen, like it was an event that actually took place and was filmed. I think that's what freaks me out the most. What if it actually  _did_  happen? What if Bill actually came back as a human? From our perspective, the people affected by Weirdmageddon, it seems impossible because we erased him in Grunkle Stan's mind, right? But, maybe there was a loophole, a trick Bill still had up his sleeve, something that could bring him back that we overlooked or couldn't possibly have known.

A violent shudder shakes my body as I record my nightmare and the thoughts it sparked, genuinely worried about the possibility of my nightmare coming true. There truly could be something we didn't see, a mistake that could be more costly than if Bill had won in the first place. When he comes back -- no, if he comes back -- he'll be just as insane as ever, but also full of a rage that he didn't have the first time he tried to take over the universe, a hatred against those who defeated him and thwarted his plans. The first thing he would do before resuming his plans would be to kill and/or torture the people that fit into the Zodiac, even if most of them didn't have a part in how we actually did stop him. Hell, this is Bill Cipher, he wouldn't need a reason to kill them, he would just do it for the hell of it. Everyone I care about will die if he comes back.

"Dipstick!" Mabel's voice pulls me from my abysmal thoughts. I look up and see her in my doorway, grinning and holding Waddles against her chest. Setting Waddles down, Mabel steps in my room and says, "Come on, it's the last day of school! Aren't you excited? We may not be going to Gravity Falls this summer, but we're still gonna have lots of fun, I promise." The smile on Mabel's face would normally always give me an intense urge to smile back, but my emotional displays have been quite forced lately.

With a shaky smile, I reply, "Yeah, I'm excited, Mabel. I may not look like it, but that's just because I'm tired." A skeptical look crosses Mabel's face, so I try to pull her attention away from me. "You're right, summer is going to be great. Maybe we can go camping on our own this year."

Mabel's face lights up at the idea of camping without our parents. "Do you really think they'll let us?" Without saying anything else or letting me reply, she suddenly turns and runs out the door. I can vaguely hear her thundering footsteps going down the stairs and her shouting something.

I smile faintly before it flickers away, and I heave a sigh as I turn back to writing about my nightmare, only needing one more sentence before closing it. I'm glad I was able to distract Mabel from it, considering it's supposed to look like a book of Plato's dialogues, and it would be odd to be writing in that. There's always guilt that tugs at me in the back of my mind, telling me that I shouldn't be lying to Mabel. We're the mystery twins, and we have each other's backs through thick and thin, we tell each other everything. But, not this. I can't burden her with this, and that's the only thing keeping the guilt at bay. My guilt would only get worse if I caused her grief, or if she dropped everything in her life to help me with this. The worry would consume her, and I can't allow that to happen. For now, this stays secret.

With another heavy sigh, I close the book, cap my pen, and move to put the book back on the shelf. Just as I'm about to set the book in its place, a shock runs through my body and I drop it. My vision is suddenly consumed by black, despite my eyes being wide open, and I feel myself hit the floor, the loud sound causing me to flinch, but only because there's no way my family didn't hear that. It seems that's the last thing I should worry about right now, though, because my body starts to violently shake and twitch as my black vision changes.

The Gravity Falls sign just outside the town comes into view momentarily, before I'm suddenly flying through the streets of the town at what feels like one hundred miles per hour. I vaguely see the front of the Gravity Falls library before I'm suddenly inside it. The first thing I see his yellow and my chest constricts immediately. Then I notice it's just a guy's sweater, which actually doesn't ease my thoughts very much, with my latest nightmare still fresh in my mind.

"It's fine if you just put your first name on the card, but you need to give me your last name to put in the database." A woman that I didn't notice before sits behind the desk, obviously trying to sign the man -- or boy, I can't tell from behind -- in the yellow sweater up for a library card. There are two books on the desk, set off to the side so the person can sign the card. One of them seems to be about edible plants, and the other I can actually see the title for, which both shocks and impresses me. I never expected anyone in or around Gravity Falls to read Dante's  _The Inferno._  

The guy doesn't respond right away, which immediately makes me paranoid. What if he is Bill? He wouldn't dare say his last name is Cipher, not unless he wanted the town to descend upon him like vultures. If he really is Bill, he couldn't have enough power right now to fight the whole town, because otherwise, he would have already done something. I could be overreacting, though, but it would be one hell of a coincidence. I get a random vision that completely overtakes my being the morning after I have a nightmare of Bill coming back? Not to mention, this person's clothes look to be the same as what I saw human Bill wear in my nightmare, at least from behind.

My worries are interrupted as the guy in front of the desk suddenly blurts out, "Williams." That's a generic enough name to be true, but it would be just like Bill to come up with a name like Bill Williams.

When the woman behind the desk speaks, my fear increases. "Bill Williams?" she questions in both mild surprise and amusement. The woman is much more amused about it than I am. Perhaps in her shoes, I would think it's as funny as she thinks it is, but now my worry is increasing. Sure, it doesn't prove anything, but when you haven't had more than three hours of sleep each night for five years, you tend to get very paranoid. It doesn't help that there are also other details that add to my suspicion.

There must have been something else the woman said while I was absorbed in my worries, based off what the person in front of the desk says next. "I never knew my parents, actually." Something about the way he says that with no emotion other than impatience sends chills down my spine. Normally, people don't talk about something like that without any emotion regarding the subject.

I don't have time to dwell on these thoughts for much longer, because the person suddenly grabs the books and turns to leave without making sure the woman checked the books out to him. His library card is still sitting in front of her, as if he never plans on coming back. Once he turns around fully toward me, I understand why he has no care for any of that, and all of my fears and anxiety are confirmed. The moment I see the face of the human Bill Cipher from my nightmare, my vision clouds to black and I'm suddenly back in my body, gasping as I jolt up into a sitting position.

My parents and Mabel are sitting around me with panicked looks on their faces. Mabel has tears running down her face, but our parents are trying to remain as composed as they can, as always. The urge to scream is immediately shoved down by my desire to keep them calm. I'm overwhelmed with emotions that I just want to spend an hour screaming into my pillow, but I know they're overwhelmed with panic and worry that would only worsen if I started doing that.

"Dipper!" Mabel shrieks and tackles me to the ground with a hug. Mom scolds her, worried that the sudden movement could cause something to happen again. "Thank goodness you're okay! You scared us so much." I don't know what it seemed was happening, but I know there is no way they could have known I was having a premonition of sorts. There's also no way I can tell my parents, but I'll have to talk to Mabel later. She would understand, and she needs to know what I saw. If I withhold this information, it will only make things worse, especially if Bill finds a way to leave Gravity Falls.

"I'm sorry, Mabel," I say as I hug her back. "What happened?"

Mabel pulls away from the hug and gives me a sad and worried look. "We were downstairs talking about summer plans, when we heard a loud crash from here in your room. We immediately ran up here to check on you, and you were out cold on the floor, shaking like a tree during a tornado. Your shaking got even more violent the longer you were out, and we thought you were having some sort of seizure." The room is silent for a moment, and I look around at the solemn faces of my family. When Mabel continues with one last sentence, her voice is a whisper. "Then you just suddenly woke up."

Sighing, I decide to try reassuring them I'm fine now. "I'm sorry you guys had to see that, it sounds really terrifying. I'm perfectly okay now, though," I tell them. They look at me like I'm crazy, so I try standing up to prove my point. It doesn't really work, though, and I end up stumbling into Mabel, crashing to the ground. I gasp and immediately get off of her, apologizing. "I'm so sorry, Mabel. I guess I'm still a little shaky, but it'll be fine. I'll be fine, and you'll be fine. Everyone will be fine." At this point, I'm not quite sure whether I'm reassuring them that I'm feeling physically fine and everything will be okay, or reassuring myself that I'm mentally fine and everything will be okay.

I hear a distressed sigh from my mom, causing me to look over at her. "Dipper, you're not fine right now," she says. I open my mouth to protest, but she cuts me off and continues. "I don't think you notice how much you're shaking right now, honey. I think you should lie down, and I'll call the school." This time I move to stand up to argue that I'm perfectly fine to go to school, but Mabel holds me in place, giving me a pointed look that tells me I should do as I'm told and there's no getting out of this.

My dad shares a look with my mom and says, "I think we should bring you to the doctor, just to get you checked and make sure everything is alright with your health." This really makes me want to object, because I don't want them worrying about me this much, or wasting time and energy getting me to a doctor. None of what just happened was because of a health condition, so a trip to the doctor would be a severe waste of time. However, one look from Mabel silences me, and I look down at the floor.

"Alright," I mumble quietly, not wanting to do this at all. I'll be fine enough to go to the last day of school in a few minutes, but I know better than to go against their wishes right now. They're just worried. "I'll go to the doctor and stay home for now."

My parents smile at me, and Mabel helps me stand up as my mom says, "Okay, then it's settled. Mabel, please help him to his bed, he's still shaking too badly to walk on his own." I sigh, knowing she's right. That vision took a larger toll on me than I initially thought.

Silently, Mabel nods and steers me toward my bed. My parents leave, saying they'll make an appointment and that I should get some rest. The moment the door is shut, Mabel turns to me as we reach the bed, saying, "That wasn't just some health issue, was it? You look way too shaken up. What happened?" As always, Mabel is too perceptive for me to hide much of anything.

I sigh as I sit on the bed, clutching a pillow to my chest. Mabel sits next to me and asks again, softer this time. "I had some sort of vision," I explain. A small gasp leaves Mabel's lips, but before she can say anything, I keep talking. "Before I tell you what it was about, I need to say something else first." I need to tell her about the nightmare I had about human Bill coming back, otherwise she may not understand the meaning of the vision. Should I tell her about the other nightmares, though? Right now, I feel like that would be too many worries to unload on her, so I'll just stick with the nightmare from last night. "As a little bit of background knowledge for the vision and why it scared me so much, I had a nightmare last night. It was weird, and Bill came back as a human."

Mabel gasps and says, "I had the same one. He was put together like some sort of weird puzzle, but with molecules instead of cardboard puzzle pieces."

My eyes widen as she tells me this. "We had the exact same nightmare, Mabel. This has to mean something, right?" Mabel nods and tells me to keep talking. Nodding in return, I continue, "Yeah, as I was saying, I had that nightmare about Bill, and then this vision just now. I was suddenly in Gravity Falls, and I ended up in the library. Since no one could see me, I had a feeling it was a vision and immediately got somewhat paranoid, mainly because of the nightmare. In the library, there was a man being helped by the librarian, and he was wearing what human Bill wore in my nightmare, which made me even more paranoid. He was getting a library card so he could get a book about edible plants and a book you probably don't know." Mabel shoots me a small, playful glare, and I chuckle a little before continuing again. "Anyway, she asked for a name to put in the system, and the name she was given was Bill Williams. Normally, that wouldn't mean anything necessarily, but then he turned around to leave and I saw he looked exactly like the human Bill from the nightmare." I look at Mabel's anxious expression and frown, shaking my head. "Everything points to Bill being human and back in Gravity Falls. This is too much to be a coincidence, no matter how much I wish it was."

Mabel nods solemnly and says, "You're right. I don't know how Bill was able to stay alive and get a new physical form, but this is definitely not a coincidence." Tense silence hangs between us for a moment, both of us stuck in our thoughts about the situation. The only sound that can be heard is our parents on the phone downstairs.

"What are we going to do about this, Mabel?" I ask, unable to bear the silence any longer. I hate that I'm the one that has to ask this question, because I'm supposed to be the logical and smart twin, the one that knows what to do in these kinds of scary, unknown, overwhelming situations, the one that stays calm and has a plan. This time, though, I'm nothing like that. This is exactly what's been haunting me in a large portion of my nightmares, and I'm just terrified beyond belief. Weirdmageddon did terrible things to my mind, and I haven't been anywhere near the same since, no matter how much I try to convince myself and my family otherwise. My disguise seems to finally be crumbling at the thought of Bill still being alive, and I'm barely keeping my fear, panic, and stress on the inside. There is no way in hell I can think of what to do or even pretend I have the capacity to eventually come up with a plan.

"I don't know, Dipper," she replies, giving me a concerned look. "I'm not good with this stuff, and normally you have at least some kind of idea. I think you should lie down and get some sleep until you feel better. You had a hard fall, and it looks as though that nightmare kept you up all night." I open my mouth to protest, but Mabel gives me a stern look. "I'm not leaving this room until you lie down and fall asleep, so I suggest you hurry. I have school still."

With a quiet gasp, I mutter, "I forgot about school, actually." With reluctance, I do as Mabel says and lie back on my bed. A sudden thought enters my mind, and I look over at Mabel. "Are you sure you'll be okay going to the last day of school without me? We always go together."

Mabel gives me a sad smile. "Don't worry," she says. "I'll be fine, Dipper. You should worry about yourself every once in awhile." With that said, she turns and walks to the door, but pauses before leaving. She stands there in silence for a moment, as if trying to decide whether she wanted to say what was on her mind. Sighing, she turns back to face me with that same sad smile and says, "I know that Weirdmageddon affected you more than you try to let on. You really haven't been the same since we got back, and Mom and Dad may not have fully noticed, seeing as they hadn't seen us for three months, but I certainly noticed. I don't expect you to talk to me about all of your feelings, that's unrealistic, and you need time to process things on your own. Not to mention the many things you won't want to talk about or even think about. I also know that you seem to have gotten it in your head that your needs are below everyone else's, and that's probably part of the reason you look so terrible right now. You really do need to look out for yourself a little more. Something has been seriously bothering you since we got back, and you've been trying to hide it with everything you have for some reason. I'm glad I know now."

Mabel knows about the nightmares? How? My answer is given to me when she silently looks over at the floor near the bookshelf, where the nightmare journal I had tried to put back before I fell is laying, open to a page from a nightmare I had last week. I had drawn a few pictures of what happened in it, and they were pretty scary from an outsider's perspective. Oddly enough, that was actually one of my easier nightmares.

I silently curse under my breath. It must have dropped and opened to that page when I fell to the floor. That was something I was hoping Mabel wouldn't find out about for awhile, and this isn't the way I wanted her to find out. This is a terrible way to figure out something like that.

"I just kind of wish you would have told me, instead of finding out like this." Mabel's voice pulls me out of my worried thoughts, and I turn all of my attention back to her. We make eye contact for a second before she turns away and leaves without a word.


End file.
